Furnace



March 12, 1935. H. BLACKBURN FURNACE Filed Jan. 16, 1954 FIGURE 3 Fl GURE' 1.

FIGURE 2- INVENTOR HENRY BLACKBURN ATTO RNEY Patented Mar. 12, 1935 UNITED stares FURNACE Henry Blackburn, Hull, Quebec, Canada Application January 16, 1934,, Serial No. 706,881

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in heating systems, and more particularly, to furnaces and boilers such as are used for heating buildings, homes, service water, and the like.

The main object of my invention is to provide means whereby a furnace or boiler of conventional type may be rendered more efficient and, therefore, more economical in its operation when the same is altered to consume liquid or gas fuel instead of solid fuel for which it was first intended, 7

Another object is to provide such means which may be installed in the furnace or boiler without material change in the furnace and without the necessity of complicated devices and attachments.

A further object is to provide such means as will make use and turn intoeffect all surplus heat which is generated by the so-called intermittent control of fuel oil or gas heating systems, usually wasted by finding way to the smokestack, by absorbing such surplus at the point of heatgeneration. 7

A still further object is to supply such means at a comparatively low cost and which are easily and quickly installed in any furnace, boiler or jacket heater.

Further objects aswell as advantages of the invention will become apparent in the following description of one embodiment of my invention supplemented by a drawing in which,

Fig. l is an elevation of a hot waterfurnace of the conventional type, portion of the front broken away to show the inside thereof, and to show the installation of the means above referred to;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional elevation of the heating bowl forming the main partof the invention; and V r Fig. 3 is a more or less diagrammatic View showing the various connections in its installation.

In adapting a furnace of the conventional type primarily intended tobe fired with solid fuel such as coal or wood, it has been found advantageous to have'the 'point of firing below the main fire pot so as to give thesame contact with the burn-' ing fuel, but with the disadvantage that a certain amount of heat, in fact a great proportion of the generated heat, is wasted through radiation through the ash pit, since the usual firing device does not provide any means for absorbing and distributing any of the generated heat.

With my invention, all this wasted heat is absorbed by means whereby water will be heated and distributed from the point where the heat is more intense.

I provide a water jacketed circular bowl 5 ineluding outer and inner sections 6, '7 respectively, each formed with a circularopen top and a cir-' cular closed bottom. The bottoms '8 of saidsections are flattened. The open top of section 6 is' of greater diameter than'the open top of section :5? 7. The bottom of section 6 is of greater diameter than the bottom of section '7. The section 6 encompasses throughout the section 7. The sections 6, '7 are arranged in equi-distantspaced relation throughout. with the upper end of section 7. The sides of section 6 and the sides of section 7 in vertical section, at any point'thereof are of segmental contour with the curve directedoutwardly. The top of section 6 is disposed outwardly of the point of 15' mergence cf the bottom of such section with the lower ends of the sides of the latter. The top of section '7 aligns withthe point of mergence of the bottom of such section with the lower ends of the sides of the latter. the sections 6, '7 are connected together by a horizontally disposedv fiat annular member 9 which provides the top edge of the bowl band forms in connection with the said sections a water chamber completely surrounding the sides and bottom of section "I. The water'chamberis of uniform width throughout.

The section 6 at one side thereof and in close proximity to its bottom 8 is formed with a water intake opening for the water chamber. The said side has integral therewith a tubular outwardly directed extension 11 of a length to have its outer end positioned inwardly with respectto the horizontal central portionof the said side. The

inner face ofthe extension 11 forms a flush continuation of the wall of the, water intake opening. Awater sup'plypipe is adapted to be connected to extension 11. The section 6 at the opposite side thereof and in close proximity to member 9 is formed with a water outlet opening for 40 the water chamber. The-said opposite side has integral therewith a tubular outwardly directed extension 12 of a length to. have its outer end positioned inwardly with respect to the horizontal central portion of the said. opposite side. The inner face of extension 12 forms a flush continuation of thewall of the water outlet opening. A water discharge pipe is adapted to be connected to extension 12.

The sections 6, '7, between the transverse me- 5 dians and bottoms thereof are formed with aligning openings positioned above the extension 11. Integral with the said sections 6, '7, is a tubular member 13 having its inner face forming flush continuations of the walls of said aligning open- The upperend of section 6 aligns The upper ends of ings. The member 13 is arranged between sec' tions 6, 7, and extends transversely of the water chamber. The member 13 is provided for the passage of a fuel supply nozzle 14 into the bowl 5. The nozzle 14 is supported in spaced relation with respect to the bottom of section 7. The fuel may be gas or oil. With'respect to oil the nozzle 14 will lead to a blower system not shown. With respect to'gas, the nozzle will conduct the gas directly from a main. It being understood that the necessary gas controlling adjuncts, not shown, will be provided.

Bowl 5 is installed in the furnace so that its upper part lies in the plane of the top of the grates which are purposely removed and supported on suitable cement or brick-work as shown at 10. By installing the bowl in the ash pit below the water jacketed fire pot 15, the heat supplied from the bowl will be effective on the whole surface of the fire chamber. The ash pit may be lined with brick-work'or other suitable insulating material as at 16.

The water connections to the bowl are made up of pipe line and fittings leading from boss 11 to the usualwater return manifold 17, and from boss 12 to its header 18, the whole as in Fig. 3.

.Should the bowl be installed in a hot air furnace, it may be employed to heat additional radiating surface by connection directly with a system of radiators, or again may be employed for service water, where a large quantity is required, by connection to a suitable hot water tank.

The fuel nozzle 14 is of a type or design well suited in the present embodiment but any nozzle or feeding part of an oil burner may be adapted to the bowl by either enlarging or reducing the size of tubular member 13.

The requirements, so far as the heating surface is concerned in oil or gas fired furnaces, are almost double that usually installed in coal fired systems. This is especially so in oil or gas systems of the intermittent type, wherein burners controlled by thermostats are turned off at intervals varying in accordance to the change of temperature in the building. The average oil burner is in operation for part of the time only and, therefore, in order to distribute the same amount of heat in a given time, the water in the system must circulate more hot water than would ,be necessary otherwise. It is, therefore, evident that in converting a coal firing furnace into an intermittent oil' or gas heated device, the surface that can be heated in the furnace is way short of requirements. o

In the operation of my invention, the bowl which is supplied with water directly around the innershell, thereof, will absorb a large amount of heat generated by the burning of the oil or the gas- The remaining heat will be distributed to the fire pot,15 and the sections 20 and absorbed in about the same proportion as would be from a coal fire. 7

As soon as the thermostat, a usual component of all oil and gas heating systems, oauses the burner to operate, the bowl will immediately supply hot water owing to its eflicient design and closeness to the fire long before the fire pot or the sections of the furnace will absorb any. It

is, therefore, evident that circulation in the system will start immediately and keep on while enhanced by that of'the furnace proper resulting in a reduction of the time within which the burner will be in operation; This will avoid any overheating of the premises, a drawback almost invariably existent when the ordinary furnace is fired by oil or gas without any improvement.

Bowl 5 may be cast in any metal but where space is limited it may be built up of copper so as to render the same more conductive and,

therefore, faster in the transmission of heat from the inside thereof, to the water system in general.

While I have described my invention strictly in accordance with the constructions shown, it must be understood thatv many changesmaybe made' such as in the shape of the bowl and the manner j in which the same is connected with the water 7 system, in order to suit the process of manufacture and various requirements, without,departing from the spirit of my invention ascovered I by the following claims.

What I claim is: 1. In a furnace, a circular fire bowl having a substantially oval internal contour, said :bowl' being formed of an outer and an inner sectionof like form, each formed with a circular open top,

and a closed circular flat bottom, said-outer sec- 7 ber, said water intake means being arranged' in close proximity to the bottom'of 'said' outer se'c tion, said water discharge means being arranged in close proximity to said member, and-means extending across said chamber integralwith said sections below the transverse medians or the'la'tter for providing a passage for the entrance of a. fuel supply element into the. bowl.

2. The invention asset forth in claiml where- -tion completely encompassing said inner-section, said sections being arranged; in equi-distant by the inner, section has its bottom of the same diameter as the diameter of its open top, and the, outer section has'its bottom of greater di-[ ameter than the diameter of its top and of great er diameter than the diameter. of the bottom of the inner'section.

.I -IEbIR Y BLACKBURN. 

